Dehydrator



May 1o, 1949. J. NPAQUIN ETAL 2,469,842 DEHYDRATOR Filed Nov. 25, 1945 INVENTORS .TOSEPH NORMAN PAQl//N EDWARD P BOCK A TTONEYS Patented May l0, 1949 UNITED STATES LMElvr OFFICE DEI-IYDRATOR poration of Ghio Application November 23, 1945,. Seriali No. 630;.480

(Cl. ZIO- 131) 3 Claims.

Our invention relates .to apparatus for treating fluid streams. It relates, for example, to dehydrators or similar Huid-treating devices, such as are used in mechanical refrigeration systems, and in other situations where it is important to remove moisture or other undesirable materials from fluids., or for otherwise chemically treating fluids flowing in` a stream.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved, sturdy, durable, inexpensive dehydrator or dryer and.l a method of making it.

It is among the objectsof the invention to provide a compact, light-weight, and efcient dryer and strainer, or si-milar device which is leak-proof and` safe, and which can be manufactured economically and rapidly.

Another object is .to provide a device which al-so acts as a filter, and in which means are provided for preventing the moisture-absorbing material from being carried along with the fluid passing l.

through the dryer.

Although the invention is described herein with particular reference .to dryers or dehydrators, it isv understood that the invention is. not limited thereto.

In mechanical refrigeration systems, for example, andv in particular those operating with sulphur dioxide as a refrigerant, it is important to remove all traces of water vapor from the gas or from the refrigerating liquid as it leaves the compressor in. order to prevent corrosion of the pipes. through the refrigerator by moist fluid, and to prevent stoppage of action due to freezing of moisture.. 1t has been the practice heretofore to employ moisture-absorbing materials suchas sil- A ica. gel for the. purpose of removing the moisture fromthe gas..

It is, accordingly, an object of the invention to provide improved methods and apparatus for holding dehydrating material, suchv as silica gel, for example and assuring the passage of fluid to be treated through such. material without carrying along any material.

It is an object to provide a dehydrator for holding the drying material. with a single screen, andl with inlet and outlet openings on the same side of the screen.

A further object is to form a baille integral with a screen retainer..

Still. another object, is to render it easy tofill the receptacle with drying material and to secure the receptacle closed after it has been filled.

In carrying out. the invention. in accordance with a preferred form thereof, adeep` drawn'metal cup.y is provided hav-ing a relatively wide flange around the rim at the top of the cup. A screen is provided for retaining Ithe drying particles within the cup, and a screen retainer is provided which is adapted to t between the screen and the rim at the top of the cup. The screen retainer has a baille formed integrally therewith extending downwardly into the cup and diametrically along the screen. Preferably the retainer is secured to the screen. A head is provided having inlet and outlet openings, and having a rim with a flan-ge adapted to fit around the rim of the screen and the screenretainer, with the flange fitting against the flange on the cup. The head is also provided with a bridge fitting against the top surface of the screen along a diameter thereof. The: bridge and the baille lie along the same diameter of the screen and fltagainst opposite sides of the screen..

A better understanding of the invention will be afforded by the following detailed description considered in conjunction withy the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a vertical medial sectional view of the dehydrator forming one embodiment of the invention, together with apparatus for fabricating the apparatus as shown Fig. 2' is a bottom View of a screen retainer employed inthe apparatus of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top View of ahead for the apparatus shown inv Fig. l.; and

Fig.A 4 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional View of. a portionof the apparatus of Fig. l, illustrating thev method by which the flanges of the head and the cup are united;

Like reference characters are utilized throughout the drawing to designate like parts.

The deh-ydrator shown by way of illustration, comprises a cup II contain-ing a suitable granular or nely divided dehydrating material l2 such as silica gel, for example, with a screen I3 covering the cup II secured by a screen retainer I ll, with ahead I5 closing the cup II, and securing the screen I3 and the screen retainer i4 in place. The cup Il is preferably a deep-drawn cup composed of sheet steel or the like, having a relatively wide flange l5 around the rim Il of the cup at the. top thereof.` Preferably thecross section of the cup II is circular. If a circular cup' is em'- ployed, the. screen I3. also has a circular outline, and the diameter thereof is suflicient so that the particles t2 of the drying. material may be ret'ained' within the cup It byv means of the screen Forl retaining the screen I3, the screen retainer Iltisf preferably in the form of a iiat ring, conforming in outer diameter to the outer diameter of the screen I3, having a rim portion I8 and having a diametrical cross portion or cross piece I9 integral with the rim portion I8. The screen I3 is composed of a non-corrosive substance such as Monel-metal wire, for example, which is relatively expensive. It Will be observed that only one such screen is required.

For diverting the flow of iluid through the interior of the mass of the dehydrating material or particles I2, a baille 2| is provided which is preferably integral with the cross portion I9 of the screen retainer I4. The screen I 3 is preferably united or secured to the screen retainer I4 'by some suitable fusion process such as brazing or soldering. In securing the screen I3 to the cross portion I9 of the screen retainer I4, the meshes or interstices of the screen I4 above the cross portion I9 are filled with the uniting material, such as solder or brazing material for the entire thickness of the screen.

The head I is formed with a circular rim 22, having a flange 23, with the same outer diameter as the cup flange it and adapted to be joined thereto. Preferably the flange 23 is offset from the rim 22 to form a groove 24 for holding the rim portions of the screen I3 and the screen retainer I4. The head IE5 is dished or bowl-shaped with a bridge portion depressed and lying along the same plane as the rim 22 so as to fit against the top surface of the screen I3. The bridge 25 extends diametrically across the head from one side of the rim 22 to the other, and the parts are so assembled that 'the diametrical bridge 25 of the head Id lies along the diametrical cross piece i9 of the screen retainer l. Inlet and outlet apertures or openings 2t and 2T are provided in the head i5 on either side of the diametrical bridge 25, and both openings are above the screen I3. As shown, suitable conduits or tubes 23 and 29 are provided for connection with the openings 2S and 2l respectively.

Before assembly with the other parts, the screen I3 and the screen retainer I4 are joined by lling in the interstices of the screen I3, where the screen i3 lies along the cross piece I 9 of the screen retainer l 4 and simultaneously uniting this portion of the screen with the cross member I9 of the screen retainer I4. This is preferably done by a fusion process such as brazing or soldering. Although not essential to the operation of the device, preferably several points around the periphery of the rim i8 of the screen retainer I4 are lirst united to corresponding points on the rim of the screen i3 to facilitate the operation of lling in the interstices of the screen I3 in a diametrieal line or strip along the top of the cross member I3. If desired, the cross member I3 can also be united with `the diametrical bridge 25 of the head I5 by soldering, brazing or the liketalring care to lill the interstices of the screen I3 to prevent flow of any uid along the plane of the screen I3 between the bridge 25 and the cross portion i@ of the screen retainer I4.

The first operation before assembling the cup Il with the remainer of the apparatus, is to fill the cup li to the top with the dehydrating material i2, whereupon the screen retainer I4 t0 which the screen I3 has been united is placed upon the top of the cup with the baffle 2| extending downward into the mass of material I 2. The head I5 is then fitted to the top of the cup with the flanges IE and 23 in abutment.

Preferably the rim 23 of the head I5 is welded to the rim I6 of the cup II. To facilitate this operation, preferably a bead 3| is formed around the lower surface of the head flange 23 and the two anges are projection welded together. For this purpose a pair of annular welding electrodes 32 and 33 of a suitable material such as copper, for example, are provided and tungsten inserts 34 and 35, respectively, are provided which serve as heat-resistant shoes or contacts for the electrodes 32 and 33, and bear against the upper surface of the flange 23 and the lower surface of the flange I6, respectively. For receiving the insert 35, an annular recess 33 is formed in the lower electrode 33. Preferably a locating ring 31 of suitable heat withstanding electrical insulating material, such as mica 31, is provided for locating the flanges i6 and 23 preparatory to projecting welding.

A larger annular recess 38 is preferably provided for holding the locating ring 31. It will be understood that suitable means, not shown, are provided for supporting and moving the electrodes together as well as supplying electric welding current thereto. As a result of the combination of pressure between the welding head inserts 34 and 35 and the heat of the welding current, the bead 3l is fused and the adjacent surfaces 39 and 4E of the flanges 23 and l@ are brought into intimate contact and united as illustrated in Fig. l.

When the device is placed in a mechanical refrigerator, for example, in the line between the compressor and the evaporator with refrigerating iluid entering through the tube 28 and leaving through the tube 29, the fluid follows the path of the arrows shown in Fig. l of the drawing. Since the space between the bridge 25 and the cross member i9 is filled by the material of the screen I3 and the brazing or soldering material filling the interstices of the screen, there is no passageway of uid except downward through the screen on one side and upward through the screen on the other side. The fluid is forced by the baffle 2i to travel through a considerable portion of the mass of the dehydrating material I2. Thus none of the fluid passing through the dehydrator is permitted to carry particles of water vapor as every portion of the fiuid is brought into contact with the dehydrating material I2. The screen I3 prevents silica gel from being carried out into the uid stream.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, we have described the principle of operation of a preferred embodiment of our invention together with the apparatus and desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown and described is only illustrative and that our invention may be carried out by other arrangements.

We claim:

l. A dehydrator comprising in combination a cup containing dehydrating material and having a iiange around the rim of the cup, a head having inlet and outlet openings, a bridge extending dianietrically of the head and lying along a plane substantially along the rim of said cup, and having flanges around the rim of the head conforming to the cup-ange, a screen, and a screen retainer, said retainer and screen having outlines conforming to the shape of the top of the cup, the retainer having a rim, a cross-piece, and a baffle formed integral with said cross piece and bent into a plane transverse to the plane of the retainer rim, said screen having said retainer cross-piece joined thereto by fusion process with joining metal filling the screen through the thickness thereof along said retainer cross piece, tting under the bridge of said head to close the screen to uid passage over said retainer cross piece and under said bridge, said baffle extending downward into said dehydrating material and the anges of said head and said cup being joined to secure said screen and retainer in position.

2. A dehydrator comprising in combination, a cup containing dehydrator material, a head over the top of said cup, a screen closing the top of said cup between said head and said cup, a baffle extending into said cup from said screen, said head having a bridge contacting said screen along the line of said bale, and means filling the interstices of said screen between said bridge and said baille for deflecting flowing material from one opening in said head through one side of said screen around said baiile through the dehydrator material in the cup through the other side of said screen and out through the second opening in the head.

3. A dehydrator assembly comprising in combination a cup having a rim, a. screen extending across the rim of said cup, a baiiie extending from one side of said screen into said cup, a head resting upon the other side of said screen with inlet and outlet openings on said other side of the screen and with a bridge between said openings overlying said screen along said baille, and means filling the interstices of the screen between the bridge and the baille, said bridge, screen and baffle being in -contact with one another whereby bypassing of said baille is prevented.

JOSEPH NORMAN PAQUIN.

EDWARD P. BOCK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 315,463 Biggs Apr. 14, 1885 335,581 Hallowell Feb. 9, 1886 582,496 Avery May 11, 1897 723,556 Stewart Mar. 24, 1903 2,031,936 Cuno Feb. 25, 1936 2,242,441 Shoemaker et al. May 20, 1941 2,277,871 Mitchell Mar. 31, 1942 2,381,354 Larson Aug. 7, 1945 

